


Where Problems Are (Partially) Solved

by Silverlight8



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Meet the Family, Mike needs help you guys, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19428436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverlight8/pseuds/Silverlight8
Summary: The ghosts are, apparently, up-in-arms after Alison invites her (lesbian!) cousins over to see the house.Mike is confused, Alison is frazzled, Fanny is upset, the Captain is missing, and Pat and Kitty only want to meet the dogs (who might or might not exist).





	Where Problems Are (Partially) Solved

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidshipmanWilfrid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidshipmanWilfrid/gifts).



> It might be painfully obvious while reading that I'm not actually British – I'm from Canada (and as it's almost July 1st, happy Canada Day!). Please tell me if there are any egregious errors in word choice! 
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, MidshipmanWarburton, who spent today going over the story with a fine-tooth comb, and several weeks before this listening to me complain about this story! I hope I've done you proud <3 merci!!
> 
> This was written as part of the Ghosts Fanfiction challenge for the month of June, for the prompt 'Family'. It was great fun participating!

The moment Mike steps into the drawing room, he knows something is wrong.

Yeah, it's become pretty normal for him to walk into a room and see Alison talking to empty air (or empty for him, anyway), or pointedly refusing to look at a certain place in the room – again, no idea why, but he goes with it – but the scene when he carefully pulls the door open is completely different. Alison’s clambered on top of the table, hands outstretched, and her voice is more strident than usual; her eyes are flickering all over the room, and she keeps starting as if something has poked her.

Mike sighs and puts the broken wrench back in his pocket.

"I don't see why you have a problem with it, Fanny, they're part of the family," she's saying, and as Mike leans against the doorway to wait, she keeps going. "They might not be Buttons, but – yes, Kitty, I'm sure someone will – Pat, I don't _know_ if they'll bring their dogs – Julian! No, that's disgusting, she's my cousin! Out with you, out –" and she pushes someone away in front of her, before continuing in the exasperated tone Mike's come to know so well. Mike still has absolutely no idea what's going on. "I don't know why you're all so upset! It's just my family coming to visit, surely you must have had visitors when you were alive?"

Mike chokes on his breath. " _What?"_

And that's when Alison turns around and sees Mike dropping a spanner on his foot in shock, and then more uproar from the ghosts must start, because Alison spends the next few minutes yelling as Mike rolls around on the floor clutching his leg. A cup teeters off the table and shatters on the floor. The lights start flickering on and off before shutting into darkness. 

Well. _That's_ completely normal.

*

After a strong admonishment from Alison – "All of you _stay here_ , and that includes you, Kitty," – she and Mike hobble out of the drawing room and end up in the library. Alison rushes out to get some ice, and after she spends a bit of time muttering at someone in the hallway, she returns with an (already opened) bag of frozen peas.

"Well," she says finally, as Mike presses the bag gingerly against his swollen foot, "I suppose I should have told you about the visit..."

"Yeah," Mike gets out, "A bit of consultation would have been nice. You know. So the sewage doesn't bury your family while they're visiting."

She laughs a bit, but sobers quickly when she notices Mike's expression. "That bad?" she asks.

Mike holds up the broken wrench as confirmation.

"Ah." 

Mike shifts the bag of peas and lets out a long breath in relief as the pain begins to fade. "I would have liked to have been told before your ghosts, at least. What's their problem with it, anyway?"

Alison lets out a long-suffering sigh, and Mike gets the sudden mental image that these ghosts are all her unruly teenage children. "Oh, the usual," she says, and Mike is disturbed that he actually knows what _the usual_ is. "Fanny kept shrieking about bringing dishonour upon Button House – she still thinks my entire family are prostitutes – and Julian was being creepy, Mary was saying something about swans and the devil, and Pat and Kitty were all excited over there being dogs. I don't know. Do my cousins even have dogs?"

Mike sincerely has no idea. "No idea… but what about the others?" he asks, racking his brains. "Erm… the one who's hopelessly in love with you, and… the caveman?"

"Thomas and Robin. Oh, and you forgot the Captain." Alison pauses, thinking. "I don't know, actually. Thomas wasn't there – surprisingly – and Robin was just playing with the lights. The Captain didn't say anything. He was far quieter than usual; odd, isn't it? Maybe he feels guilty about the whole plague pit thing..."

"Mmm," he says, and pretends he knows exactly what she's talking about. Alison continues while Mike takes the thawing peas off his foot.

"Mike, _are_ you alright with the family coming over? We haven't shown the house to anyone yet, and you like my cousins – I think."

Mike snorts out a small laugh. "Yeah, it's just your aunt who's terrifying," he tells her, and she laughs as well. "Besides, what else can really go wrong?"

A lot, it turns out.

*

The first problem occurs the week before Alison’s family is due to arrive. Mike’s in the upstairs left-wing bathroom, having another go at trying to fix the plumbing, when all the lights in the house flicker twice, blink back on, and then plunge into complete darkness.

He only knows that _all_ the lights go out, though, because he hears a crash and a scream from downstairs, where Alison is figuring out the train timetable with her cousin and her wife over the phone.

“ _ROBIN!”_

That’s Mike’s cue to get up. He crawls out from under the sink (he was probably making the plumbing problem worse, anyway), hits his head on the tiled counter, and walks downstairs to the parlour with a pounding headache. “Alison?” he asks, stumbling (once more) through the doorway, “what’s wrong?”

Alison glares up at him from where she’s sprawled on the ground. “If Robin were still alive, I would murder him with my bare hands,” she grinds out, and Mike winces in sympathy as he lowers himself onto the floor next to her.

“Made you trip over the table, did he?”

“Blasted thing only ever gets in the way.”

Mike waits in sympathetic silence for all of one second. “So… bit of a stupid question, but which one is Robin again?” (Although his actual _sympathy_ doesn’t lessen.)

“The stinky caveman.” Alison continues glowering, and Mike is just beginning to wonder why on earth she’s glaring at _him_ when she barks out a few more words. “Robin, I heard that, now LEAVE!”

Mike quickly realizes that Robin was, in fact, in the room with them the entire time, and immediately feels very awkward for forgetting his name. That feeling lasts, again, for all of one second before Alison drags herself to her feet with a pained groan, and Mike suddenly would very much like to strangle Robin - well, maybe not strangle. A good kick in the groin, perhaps?

*

After the whole debacle with the Family Reveal, as Mike insists on calling it, most of the ghosts avoid them for a while - according to Alison, that is. She mumbles quite a bit when he asks _why_ , exactly, but after she hisses a bit at one of them, Thomas, he thinks, she finally gives him a straight answer. “They feel guilty,” she says, and Mike gapes at her in complete disbelief for a couple of seconds.

“What?” she asks, as the silence lengthens. Mike finally manages to clear the surprise out of his head long enough to form some sort of an answer.

“I just… find it hard to believe that they would feel guilty about… anything?” he squeezes out. A horrible thought suddenly occurs to him. “Are any of them in the room right now?”

Alison sighs. “They’re avoiding us, remember,” she reminds him, "All except Thomas, that is, and he's sulking as usual."

“Ah. Yes. But the point is - Julian pushed you out the window, for goodness’ sake, and Fanny insists on calling you a prostitute. And the Captain went off in _completely_ the opposite direction with the plague pit thing!” He pauses for a second, finding it difficult to get any words out. “I just... find it hard to imagine?”

She puts a hand on his arm and leans forward to look at him earnestly. "Mike,” she says, “I swear they're not monsters. Pat and Kitty feel really bad about causing such an uproar, and even Julian apologized to me, even if in his own… rather unique way." She shudders a bit at what Mike takes to be the memory, and he commiserates silently. "The Captain's made himself scarce, which isn't exactly a bad thing… A little worrying, maybe, but – the point is, they're trying their best, they really are."

"Well, I'll take your word for it," Mike says uneasily, as he can't _quite_ shake the feeling they're being watched, "but I still haven't forgiven them for trying to run us out of the house. And for harassing you for weeks and weeks!" He bristles at the memory. Alison pats him on the arm and stands up, making for the kitchen.

"You're right on that count, but they're getting better. I promise!" She disappears behind the door, and then a resounding crash sounds through the house. " _Mary!"_ Alison shrieks, and Mike drops his head in his hands in an acute moment of despair.

Alison's cousins had better understand.

*

Four days before Alison's cousins arrive, it's a wonderful spring day, and Mike has just reluctantly begun attempting to fiddle with the boiler again. He's had enough experience with it that he doesn't need Alison standing next to him to 'translate' for the plague ghosts, but being in the cellar alone is definitely scarier without her. Even worse, it's cold, and seems to be getting colder.

He shivers as he tries to figure out the valve system, and after a good bit of fiddling with the pump he thinks he has a handle on it (pun not intended). But the temperature still seems to be dropping, and goosebumps start raising on his arms. That feeling of uneasiness has returned, and he wishes that he could just go out on the grounds and enjoy the sunshine instead of being stuck in the cellar. Still, Alison had been very firm about finally getting the boiler going before her cousins froze to death in the night – her words, not his – and so here he is. Having the time of his life. Maybe _he_ will freeze to death down here.

Still, the boiler is on and not making those funny noises, so Mike decides to call it a day and go upstairs. He's just turned the light off and started up the bottom step when he hears Alison's voice. "Mike?" She asks, and her voice sounds strange in a way that Mike can't place. "Mike, are you almost done in the cellar?"

"Yeah," he calls up, "I think it should be okay for a while. I think. Why, is something wrong?"

“No, nothing’s wrong,” she says, and her voice definitely sounds strangled. “Erm… just stay down there for a second, okay? I’m coming down.”

Mike waits uncomfortably on the bottom step for a minute, in his natural state of confusion nowadays, until Alison pokes her head in the doorway, shudders visibly, and makes her way down the stairs. “What’s up?” he asks, but she just pulls him into the cellar and next to the boiler. The lights are still off, and she looms ghost-like out of the darkness. Mike swallows. “Alison?”

“Shut it,” she hisses, and he promptly shuts it. After a tense moment of silence, she lets out a long breath. “Sorry, Mike. I just wanted to get away from those idiots upstairs.”

“I thought they were still avoiding us?”

“Well, not anymore, it seems. I had to escape another hullabaloo when they overheard me telling Jamie that they'd be in Fanny’s bedroom - “

Mike bursts out a quick laugh. “Did you tell her _Fanny’s_ bedroom?” he asks. Alison gives him a weak whack on the arm.

“Of course not, silly, but of course I forgot to check the room beforehand and now everyone’s heard it and they're arguing amongst themselves over the whole thing. I thought they’d gotten over it!” She slumps against the wall and closes her eyes. “Not you guys,” she says suddenly, and Mike nearly jumps out of his skin when he realises that she’s talking to the plague ghosts. “You’re fine, lovely people, nobody’s going to disturb you. I promise.”

“Yeah,” Mike adds rather lamely, and Alison gives a small abortive laugh before recovering herself. Mike glances around nervously.

“It’s rather cold in here,” Alison says again after a second, wrapping her arms around her stomach, and Mike grimaces.

“Yeah… started just when I finished with the boiler. I guess it isn't too terrible, is it?”

After a pause, Alison flops forward into Mike’s arms. “No,” she says, and Mike can feel the vibration of her speech through his shirt. “It’s probably perfectly fine. Definitely nothing at all to do with a bunch of disgruntled ghosts and one who can control electricity.” And she looks up at him with the most exhausted expression he’s ever seen her wear, even when it was weeks before their wedding and they were lost in a hailstorm of paperwork and contracts. “Mike, I’m just so tired… maybe I should just call Jamie back, and tell her that she and Kayla can’t come visit because a bunch of _idiotic_ ghosts insist on making life hell.”

Mike strokes her hair gently, trying desperately to think of something to say.

“Well, you can’t give up now!” he tells her eventually. “That... would be letting them win. Your cousins are going to come and have the best time possible, and- we’ll show them that they can’t tell _us_ what to do _._ Because _we_ own the house now. Or something.”

It doesn't sound particularly convincing, not even to Mike, but Alison gives a watery smile, and nods after a second. “You’re right,” she tells him, “we do own the house, and we can invite who we like! I’ll go upstairs and tell Fanny that she’ll just have to switch rooms for a week, and tell her not to make a fuss about it, because we don’t care.” She kisses Mike briefly and starts back up the stairs. Mike makes to follow her, but glances quickly around the room once more to make sure that he hasn’t missed anything.

He promptly sighs.

_Damn._ The pilot light’s turned off again.

*

After a whirlwind few days of working on the house, mostly involving trying not to fall while pretending he knows how to tile a roof (Youtube videos teach all), Mike is honestly surprised to find that they have only one day until Jamie and Kayla arrive.

Alison, having to deal with the ghosts, is incredibly frazzled, and Mike – well, Mike might just be getting there too.

He's just started in on trying to fix a hole in the kitchen wall when Alison rushes in, hair half brushed. "Mike," she calls, "Oh my God, we only have one day until they get here!" And she promptly rushes out again before coming back in the room, hairbrush clutched in both hands. "Oh my God, we're not ready and what if Robin destroys the electricity again, and oh my God, I don't want to think about what Julian's going to do!" She paces frantically around the room, clutching the brush like a defensive weapon.

Mike hastily drops the various tools in his hands and steps towards her, gently taking the hairbrush out of her hand; he considers telling her that she just used 'oh my God' three times in two sentences, but refrains. "Alison, love," he says instead, "it's going to be fine."

Alison gives him such a stare of disbelief that he almost drops the hairbrush as well. "Mike, you don't understand," she says in despair, "my _cousins_ are going to be here, in the _house_ , with the _ghosts,_ and who knows what they're going to find! We've only just got the hole in Fanny's room fixed, and they're probably going to ask about the lights flickering constantly, and I _still_ don't know what's wrong with the Captain but I can't spend all my time babysitting him when we have guests!" She's quite a bit out of breath when she pauses. "I should just tell them," she mumbles to herself, taking the hairbrush back, "Tell them what they're in for…" and she runs back out of the room, leaving Mike staring after her.

Mike's definitely arrived at frazzled now.

*

The next day, Mike is dispatched to pick Jamie and Kayla by a very harried Alison. "I need to talk to the ghosts," she says when he asks why he's being sent instead of Alison – _they're your cousins, anyway! –_ "And I need to tell them a few things before Jamie and Kayla get here." And she gives him a significant look that Mike decodes immediately.

"Oh, because they're lesbians!" he says, louder than he means to, and Alison grimaces, eyes darting around the room.

"Bit quieter next time, Mike," she says, and leans in to continue in a whisper, "literally all of the ghosts are in the room right now, and I _really_ would have liked to tell them myself. You know."

He glanced around the room, fails to see anything out of the ordinary, and understands. "Damage control?" he asks quietly, and Alison gives him a quick nod, prodding him toward the door. "I'm leaving now!" he calls, looking over Alison's shoulder, and she gives a tight-lipped smile and pushes him past the doorstep.

He's been waiting at the train station for half an hour, waiting for the train to pull up, and has just begun to consider going back and waiting in the car (it's bloody _cold_ standing around on the platform by himself) when the train finally arrives. Being rather far from any semblance of an actual town, the station doesn't tend to traffic many people; when the doors pull open and people begin to disembark, he sees Alison's cousins immediately. Kayla is the first out, instantly recognizable in her navy blue trench coat, followed a second later by Jamie in her ( _iconic_ , as Jamie had said the last time they'd met) leather jacket as Kayla helps her down. He starts toward them in relief, and they turn simultaneously and shout when they see him. "Mike!" Jamie calls, and attempts to run towards him, disregarding the cast around her leg. Kayla halts her quickly, but still wraps him into a giant hug when he gets close enough. Mike grins; things finally seem off to a good start.

In the car, Jamie and Kayla both in the backseat, they (well, mostly Jamie) bombard Mike with questions as they head back on the road. "Where's Alison?" is her first question. "I thought she'd be waiting at the station instead of sending her hapless husband out instead!" Kayla slaps her weakly, but Jamie grins it off.

Mike coughs. "She, er, had to deal with a few things in the house," he replies, "you know, making sure everything's… up to snuff. You know." Yes, that doesn't sound at _all_ suspicious. 

"What's the house like?" comes next. "Anything we have to be aware of? Any lurking ghosts?" Jamie's tone of voice is obviously joking, but Mike still lurches slightly in shock.

"No!" He says immediately, "no, none at all." And laughs nervously. "Why? Any experience with them?" The question comes out the slightest bit too serious for Mike's liking, but Jamie doesn't seem to notice.

"Oh, no, just curious," she says airily, and gives her laughing grin again. Kayla smiles at her fondly through her round-rimmed glasses.

Jamie asks more questions, of course, about the renovations and such (preventing Mike from getting any questions in about her broken leg, which he hadn't been told about), even offering to help him with the roofing before Kayla laughingly shuts down that idea. Mike relaxes into the drive and answers everything, reassuring them that Alison's very happy to see them when Kayla asks again. Mike is only uneasy once on the drive, when he finds Kayla looking at him suspiciously in the rear-view mirror. Mike looks away quickly.

When they pull up at the house, Alison is already waiting at the front door, looking relieved. Kayla and Jamie swarm her immediately, as they did with Mike, and Mike catches Alison’s eye over their shoulders and tries to contort his face into an expression that would appropriately convey _Did you talk to them yet? How did they take it?_ Alison just gives him a puzzled look, and Mike sighs. He’ll just have to take her aside at the earliest opportunity...

Which doesn’t happen for a while, because the second they’ve swung open the doors to bring all the things into the house, Jamie gasps, her eyes wide open in shock—and she promptly collapses to the ground in a dead faint.

*

Mike, shocked, immediately drops the suitcases that have been loaded into his arms and kneels down next to her on the cold front step. Kayla joins him, pale, and speaks gently. "Jamie," she asks, "Jamie, are you all right?" There's no response, and Mike feels a little sick all of the sudden, although Kayla must pick up on this because she says quietly, "Don't worry, she does this all the time." All the same, her voice is strained in a way Mike recognizes very well.

"All the time?" he asks, voice an octave above his normal pitch, but Kayla doesn't respond.

From above him, he hears Alison make a strangled sound. When he looks up, she's looking over into the house, frozen on the spot (Mike would puzzle over this, but her cousin's _collapsed in the doorstep,_ so...).

Kayla leans in and pinches Jamie's shoulder, and after another tense second, she stirs. Kayla and Mike both let out sighs of relief, and Jamie blinks up at them, rather muddled. "Whrsalsn," she mumbles incomprehensibly, "I think… I think isatrngne…"

"Say again, love?" Kayla says, and Mike is aware of Alison dropping down beside them. She looks stunned, paler than normal, even though Jamie looks to be waking up now.

"Alison," Jamie manages, more clearly, and she focuses on the face appearing before her. "Alison, who were those people?" She sounds _scared_ , almost, although what is there to be scared of?

When Alison stutters out an uncertain reply, it clicks.

_Ah,_ Mike thinks with a twisting stomach, _the ghosts._

*

They eventually get Jamie into the house and arranged on the sofa in the library, and the first thing Alison says is "Jamie, how did you get that cast on your leg?"

Jamie looks up at her, hand entwined with Kayla's, and takes a second to reply. "The motorcycle accident," she says slowly, "the one that landed me in the hospital for a week?" Getting her colour back, she lets out a small laugh. "Nearly thought I was dead when I woke up, it was so quiet, although that was because my hearing was shot! It was why we took the train, anyway, because the doctor wouldn't hear of letting us take the bike out so soon. _Spoilsport_ ," she continues in a whisper. Mike snorts.

"Dead?" asks Alison. "Just how serious was the accident?"

"Pretty serious," interjects Kayla, turning Jamie's hand over and covering it with her own. "It was touch-and-go there for a bit, but Jamie pulled through."

"Hmm…" Alison says, and then continues very gently. "Well, with what you told me about the accident… I know what you saw."

*

Jamie takes it quite well, all things considered. "Ghosts?" she asks suspiciously at first. "Are you sure? I'm not just completely mad, or something?"

"No," Alison reassures her with a small laugh, "although I thought I was mad myself when I first encountered them. No, they're ghosts, nine or so of them."

"Nine? I only saw eight. I think. Hard to count when you're collapsing to the ground!"

Alison frowns slightly. "Funny, I thought all of them were there… do you remember seeing a rather stiff military sort?"

Jamie shakes her head, then winces immediately (Mike feels phantom sympathy pain directly above his right ear, although it could just be from the rather unfortunate fall down from the eaves of an outbuilding earlier). "No, although there was some sort of Scout leader with an arrow through his neck. Rather grisly, isn't it?" 

Alison nods. "It is, but you get used to it when you see it everyday." She takes a deep breath. "Well, the only one you haven't… _met_ yet is the Captain. And he's been avoiding us as well, for reasons unknown, so you have something to look forward to."

Jamie grimaces. "No horrible injuries?" She asks, and Alison waves her hand.

"None at all. How he died is a bit of a mystery…"

There's a rather contemplative silence, which Mike thoroughly enjoys after the to-do of the last few days. It's quickly broken.

"So… are there any ghosts in here right now?" Kayla asks after a moment, scanning the room uneasily. "I can't see anything and it's rather… frightening."

Alison looks around as well and shakes her head. "No, we're clear," she says, "I told them all to stay away before you came, anyway," (whereupon Jamie looks to Mike with raised eyebrows and a triumphant expression, puzzling Mike), "because I didn't want any sort of a surprise. For you. Rather like the one we just got." She winces slightly, but Jamie grins anyway.

"Oh, now that I know what's going on, I feel much better. I kept seeing dead people all over the place after the accident, so it's reassuring to hear that I'm not yet completely around the bend."

Kayla clucks at her lightly but gently, a fond smile on her face. "I was worried, too," she says, looking up. "At one point, after a particularly nasty incident, I actually looked up 'psychotic break' in an attempt to discover what on Earth was going on!"

Jamie immediately puts on a rather theatrical expression of betrayal and clutches at her chest. "How could you doubt me so!" she cries, and Alison lets out the first genuine laugh Mike's heard from her in two weeks.

Meanwhile, Mike gazes at Kayla with newfound kinship. "Psychotic break?" he asks as Alison and Jamie break out a new conversational topic, "I was almost convinced that was what it was myself!"

Kayla smiles ruefully at him. "It is a bit difficult being married to people who see ghosts everywhere, isn't it?" she asks.

"Oh, you have no idea," Mike responds (almost in relief), "imagine _living_ with them! The ghosts, that is," he hastens to add.

Kayla shudders at the thought. 

*

After that quite eventful afternoon, things calm down a bit while Alison takes the time to properly catch up with her cousins and lead them on a tour of the house (after yet another hissed directive at the ghosts to _leave them alone for five seconds, please and thank you_ , while Jamie stands waving at them over her shoulder). Mike's been sent off to the kitchen to try and rustle something up for dinner, and after a few puzzled minutes trying to figure out what to do with several bags of gooseberries and a frozen chicken, he turns up quite a decent Christmas-y sort of meal that he doesn't _think_ will poison anybody – not that he really knows, since the temperature gauge on the oven fell off the day before, and he has no idea at what setting the chicken was supposed to be cooked at anyway.

But nobody seems to be poisoned, and dinner itself turns out to be another interesting affair. Although Kayla and Mike can't really tell, it seems the ghosts have freed themselves from Alison's strictures and decided to interrogate Jamie _very_ thoroughly. She takes it well, and Mike is used to disjointed conversations with people he can't see or hear, so he eats in relative peace while Jamie and Alison almost shout to be heard (apparently eight ghosts all talking at once makes quite a racket).

"May I have the gravy!" shouts Jamie, for example, and Mike passes the gravy boat straight across the table to her. Jamie winces, and Mike drops his hand, and the gravy boat, as quickly as possible. "Sorry, Pat!" Jamie says loudly. "He didn't mean to catch you with it, are you all right?"

Silence, and Jamie nods. "Too bad we couldn't bring the dogs, eh?" she asks to empty air, and Mike looks across the table at Kayla, who is looking rather ill at ease.

"All a bit overwhelming, is it?" he asks, and realises that he's shouting a bit as well. He clears his throat. "Sorry about this, usually the ghosts know to leave well enough alone…"

Kayla shrugs lightly. "I suppose they're just curious, that's all. It's been a while since there were visitors?"

Mike tries to suppress a grimace, thinking about the disastrous dinner with the neighbors, and shakes his head. "Well, not really," he starts, and after some prompting, proceeds to tell her all about it.

Alison and Jamie eventually get drawn into the story as well, and they all end up laughing around the table far after they finish eating. Finally, at around nine in the evening, Jamie begs off to go to bed. "Sorry we've taken your room, Fanny," she says to a spot in the room just inside the doorway, "we promise to return it in pristine condition in three days!" And she promptly yawns, leaning her head against Kayla's shoulder. "Thank you," she says indistinctly, to no one in particular, and with a final goodnight they leave the room to go upstairs.

*

Mike and Alison end up drifting into the library, the light beside the sofa burning softly as they sit down. Alison lets out a low sigh and leans against Mike’s shoulder, like Jamie with Kayla after dinner, and he wraps his arms around her shoulders. Alison closes her eyes, and Mike is slowly swept up in a feeling of deep satisfaction as he looks down at her. Jamie and Kayla had apparently hit it off with the ghosts, and aside from the fainting episode earlier, the ghosts hadn’t really caused any trouble. It’s almost surprising.

Alison must be having similar thoughts, because she mumbles a bit into Mike’s shoulder before hauling herself upright. “Things went really well tonight, didn’t they?” she says, rubbing her eyelids. “I wasn’t expecting the ghosts to actually _do_ what I told them to do.”

“You underestimate yourself, my lady Alison,” Mike tells her, and Alison laughs a little.

“Really, though, they were… better than I expected. From what I heard during dinner, I think that Pat might have given them a little talking-to.” 

Mike hums. “He’s good at that sort of thing, isn’t he?”

“I guess so, yeah. The Captain’s usually in charge of things like this, but again, he’s not really been around much in the last two weeks. Ever since the plague pit was unearthed.”

Mike doesn’t really have anything important to say about the Captain, and they fall into a sort of comfortable silence (Alison resting her head against Mike again, Mike closing his eyes) before Mike distantly recalls a question he had.

“Alison,” he begins, “during dinner, what exactly were the ghosts so excited about? Couldn’t just have been Jamie and Kayla, could it?”

“Hmmmph,” he hears her mumble into his shoulder, and she turns slightly so he can hear her response. “Mostly _was_ just them,” she says, eyes closed. “You know, before you came back from the train, I made sure to tell them not to freak out about their relationship after _you_ outed them -” her voice sharpens suddenly, and Mike shifted guiltily “-but they were calm about it, even Mary and Fanny. Fanny just said something about flowers liking other flowers, or something, but that was it. I think they were just happy to see other people in the house.”

“I thought they were upset about it before...”

Alison cracks open her eyelid and glances up at Mike, tired. “One thing you should know about the ghosts, Mike,” she says, “is that they’re both very stubborn about certain things, and very _changeable_ at the same time. It gets exhausting, sometimes, but the upshot of it is that they _did_ feel guilty about the plague pit thing, and the whole trying-to-run-us-out-of-the-house thing, and they wanted to make it up to us somehow. By staying away.”

“Even the Captain?”

“...I don’t know about the Captain. He’s been nowhere in sight, but...” and after a pause, she yawns deeply.

“All right, love,” Mike says softly, “we should probably go to bed now, so we don’t sleep in past your cousins.”

Alison agrees, and after some more stretching and yawning, they go upstairs.

Just as they leave, Mike sees the little lamp flicker, and then shut off all by itself.

*

The next morning, Kayla is down in the kitchen just after Mike wakes up. "Hello," he tells her as she comes in, switching the kettle off, "would you like some tea?"

Kayla yawns, wrapping her arms around her middle. "Oh, yes please! It's cold in the mornings, isn't it?" She shivers slightly, and Mike nods.

"Yes… I tried to fix the boiler two days ago, but I'm afraid that it's perpetually freezing down here." He gets out two mugs from the cupboard and sets them down on the counter. "Caffeinated?"

Kayla nods. He sets up the tea and gives her a mug, wrapping his fingers gratefully around the warmth. They sit quietly for a moment.

"So…" Kayla begins slowly, "Jamie was talking to me last night. About the ghosts."

Mike isn't too prepared for this. "Ah," he says, "yes. The ghosts."

"One in particular. The Captain?"

Mike nods, sipping his tea, and promptly jerks away as he burns his tongue. "Aghhh," he says, dropping the mug, "sorry. Anyway. Yeah, the Captain. How did you hear about him?"

Kayla shrugs. "Jamie heard about him from the pining poet one. Apparently he found some kind of plague burial ground?"

"In the basement, in fact. Yeah. But I have to say, Alison wasn't too happy about it. It's difficult keeping this place up, you know…" and he trails off slightly before recovering. "We were given an offer on the house, and we'd just decided to take it when – surprise! – the Captain ruined our plans. The realtor fell into the plague pit and that was the end of that, done and dusted, and he was so bloody proud of himself, even though he's been scheming for the last few months on how to get us out of here!"

Mike is rather angry by the time he's finished. He takes a deep breath, surprised at himself. He hadn't expected to spill everything out to Kayla, but of course she probably knew already, being part of the family and such; all she does is give him a look over the top of her glasses. "Sorry," he says rather weakly.

"It's nothing," she tells him. "But… Alison tells you rather a lot, doesn't she?"

Mike nods.

"Jamie certainly tells me a lot. And the reason I asked about the captain… well, she wants to talk to him."

Mike spills the tea again.

*

After all is explained to Alison, and Jamie actually wakes up, the plan is set. The ghosts are unleashed to go and find the captain, which Kitty manages after finding him in his room (not a very secret hiding spot, but whatever) and even though Mike can't actually see the Captain, or hear him, or sense him in any way at all, in fact, he gets the sense that he's not at all happy that they've dragged him into the library.

Mike sits down rather awkwardly on a settee next to Alison, and Jamie throws herself onto the couch.

"Captain, my good man," she begins, "these lovely people –" and here she gestures all around, as if encompassing the ghosts as well "–have expressed some concern for you lately. Care to explain why you've been skulking around?"

There's a prolonged silence that, looking around, must not be that silent for Jamie and Alison. Jamie bites her lip, looking conflicted. "You… hid because you felt bad," she says eventually. "I thought so, but why not just talk to Mike and Alison?" Another pause. "All right, maybe not Mike."

He shifts uncomfortably. 

"Of course I understand," Jamie continues. "Things have been topsy-turvy for you lately. But the fact of the matter is simply that you've been worrying them. And your fellow ghosts. I might be entirely new at this, but I know that having people around that you like, and trust – it's important. And trust can't happen unless you're actually around to build it."

One of the lights flickers once, as if to punctuate the point. Mike directs a suspicious eye at it.

Alison breaks in at that point. "Look," she says, "I can't pretend that we were especially happy that you kept us from selling the house. But –" and she draws in a deep breath "–I actually want to thank you. Mike and I, we _really_ want this to work. We almost gave up, and you kept us from giving up our – well, our dream." She smiles, and Mike is suddenly struck with how much he loves Alison.

"See?" says Jamie. "Being _around_ to listen works wonders." There's more silence, which lasts for a longer time than previously. Mike tries to find exactly where Jamie and Alison are looking, and fails.

Jamie's smile drops imperceptibly. "Mike said what?" she asks. "Today, in the kitchen? With Kayla?" She turns to look at Kayla, brow furrowed. The light flickers again. Kayla nods at Mike.

"You might want to say something," she says quietly.

Mike clears his throat awkwardly. "Yes, well," he starts, looking at the table lamp, and before he continues, Alison gently turns him to the right slightly so that he's looking at a blank patch of floor between the couch and his chair. "Yes, well," he says again. "I'm sorry?" (This really isn't coming out right). "I said all those things in the heat of the moment. I'm not actually mad at you anymore," he tacks on in desperation. "It– well, it bothered me at the time–" he coughs again "–but it doesn't now, I promise. I was worried about you too, you know." And still not sure where to look, he lapses into a rather embarrassed silence.

Jamie clears her throat in a way that sounds suspiciously like an imitation of Mike's. "Well, now that that's all cleared up," she says, getting slowly to her feet, "I feel like having a little bit of breakfast. Are you all right?" she directs at the Captain, and he presumably says yes, because Alison stands up, along with Jamie and Kayla, and make their way back down to the kitchen to find some breakfast. Mike follows them, looking behind him for a hint of any ghostly activity.

Funny, he can smell burnt toast. Can't be Alison and the cousins in the kitchen already, can it?

*

The rest of the visit passes with far more normality than the first two days. They spend a lot of time going over the planned renovations, which to Mike isn't exactly thrilling vacation material, but seems to interest Jamie and Kayla quite a bit. Kayla turns out to have quite an enthusiasm for plumbing, which results in Mike and Kayla spending an hour on the second day under the sink twisting things with wrenches – and the plumbing actually seems to improve, so all things considered, it's a resounding success.

As for the ghosts, they don't make any more fuss, and in fact are quite helpful with the boiler. When it's time for Jamie and Kayla to leave, Alison actually catches Mike moping by the window as they load their things into the car. (No Jamie to keep the ghosts in check? The thought is horrifying!)

"Going to miss having same people around, are you?" she asks, and Mike laughs a little.

"Yeah… I like your cousins, I really do. Your aunt still terrifies me, though."

That sets Alison off, and when they all leave, piled into the car and heading for the station, Mike almost forgets to be nervous.

Which might have been a mistake.

When they get back, tired out from the successive promises of 'we'll visit soon!' and 'don't worry!' and 'I won't fall off the roof, I promise!', they'd almost forgotten about the ghosts entirely. That all changes when they pull up to the driveway, and Alison winces.

"They're here, are they?" Mike asks with a sinking feeling. "In the driveway, I mean."

Alison nods. "It's Fanny, again. I think it's something to do with the hole in her wall…"

They brave opening the front door. Immediately, before Alison even flicks the light switch, the lights are doing a little flickery dance in their sockets. A vase on a small table by the door scooches an inch across the hardwood surface. Alison moves into her protective stance.

Well, it's all normal now…


End file.
